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Zayo's fiber to the tower network reaches 2,000 towers

Zayo's aggressive deployment continues to resonate with the wireless service provider community looking for alternative backhaul solutions; the wholesaler's fiber to the tower (FTTT) network now reaches 2,000 cell towers.

Offering over 100G in overall bandwidth to 3,000 wireless operator tenants, the service provider now has 46 markets in operation with six more currently being built out.

Since being founded in 2007, Zayo has deployed over 4,000 metro route miles to support its FTTT network. The timing of its buildout coincides nicely with both large incumbent carriers that have wireless arms (AT&T (NYSE: T) and Verizon (NYSE: VZ)) that need to seek out other providers in markets where they don't have wireline facilities. Verizon, for example, named a number of alternative providers outside of its traditional ILEC wireline markets for wireless backhaul in support of its LTE roll out in 2010.

However, alternative providers like Zayo also have great relevance to standalone wireless operators (MetroPCS (NYSE: PCS), Sprint (NYSE: S) and T-Mobile, a Zayo customer), which are also aggressively building out their respective 4G LTE networks that will require fiber and Ethernet-based wireless backhaul solutions to support growing wireless traffic loads.

Indeed, getting the endorsement of T-Mobile will help Zayo make its case to other wireless operators in its FTTT footprint.

Sticking to its aggressive buildout strategy, David Howson, president of Zayo Bandwidth, said the company is building more than 500 additional towers, which will be brought on-net in the near future.